I found it inspiring, encouraging and fun to attend.It was excellently run.

I attended workshops on Social Enterprise, the stunning film HOME – available free on the web http://www.home-2009.com/us/index.html, and a Rob Hopkins workshop on his new thinking about the ‘patterns’ needed to run a transition group. Currently this work is aimed at new groups – the work for longer established initiatives like Stroud is still to be grappled with!

It was interesting to hear other participants I chatted to say they perceive Stroud to be a very successful initiative. Our website is seen as impressive. When I said we had 15 people regularly active this was far more than most groups I spoke to – including Lewes – another long term successful group. Two people hunted me out saying they wanted to come here…….

One of the dramatic events of the Conference was a workshop by a woman called Nicole Foss (aka blogger Stoneleigh) on the economy. It took place on the 12th (Saturday) and people were still reeling from it 2 days later.She speaks very clearly, lucidly and convincingly about the economic crash to come and defensive measures individuals may wish to take. Her talk and questions/answers are recorded (About 2 hours worth – listen to her talk here http://sheffield.indymedia.org.uk/2010/06/453356.html and her website is http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com/ .)